Occasionally, you’ll want to be sure you are getting fresh DNS information during development or working on servers with hostnames. This has changed in the Leopard version of Mac OS X. The following command will now flush your DNS cache on Mac OS X Leopard:

dscacheutil -flushcache

If you have previously disabled the Mac OS X Spotlight feature and you now find that you would like to turn it on again, following these steps to do so.

1. Launch Terminal and type the following command: sudo nano /etc/hostconfig
2. Find the following entry in the hostconfig file: SPOTLIGHT=-NO-
3. Change SPOTLIGHT=-NO- to SPOTLIGHT=-YES-
4. Save /etc/hostconfig by hitting Control-O and the return key. Next hit Control-X to exit the nano editor.
6. Disable the Spotlight index by typing the following in the Terminal: sudo mdutil -i on /
7. When you reboot, Spotlight will be enabled again.

If you would like to disable the Mac OS X Spotlight feature, follow our guide on How To Completely Disable Mac OS X Spotlight.

One of the primary features of the Mac OS X operating system is their search feature called Spotlight. Many Mac OS X users depend on this great feature but others don’t find it necessary. For those of you who don’t find it necessary, it can improve the performance of your Mac OS X system if you disable it.

To do this, follow these simple steps.

Note that some other Mac OS X features and programs are based on Spotlight’s search abilities, therefore some applications could behave abnormally if you disable Spotlight, particularly in search functions.

Important: These instructions were created based on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. They may work on previous or future versions of OS X but they may not.

1. Launch Terminal and type the following command: sudo nano /etc/hostconfig
2. Find the following entry in the hostconfig file: SPOTLIGHT=-YES-
3. Change SPOTLIGHT=-YES- to SPOTLIGHT=-NO-
4. Save /etc/hostconfig by hitting Control-O and the return key. Next hit Control-X to exit the nano editor.
5. Disable the Spotlight index by typing the following in the Terminal:
   sudo mdutil -i off /
6. To erase the current Spotlight index, type: sudo mdutil -E /
7. When you reboot, Spotlight will be completely disabled.

If you find a need for Spotlight later, follow our guide on How To Re-enable Mac OS X Spotlight.

A local DNS host file can be very useful when working in a development environment. You can have a development environment and a production environment and simply point the host to the development environment on your machine while all of the other users are directed to the production environment. This allows you to work on the development environment and fully test prior to pushing the changes to the live production environment.

This is a fairly common practice but if you’ve never done it on Mac OS X, then you probably need a hint as to how to do this.

The Hard Way

Step 1: Open up a Terminal windows (this is in your Applications/Utilites folder by default)

Step 2: Enter the following command to open the local host file. (Note: The sudo command requires an admin password to allow you to open this file as root.)

$ sudo vi /etc/hosts

Step 3: Now you can edit the host file. To add a new host entry, on it’s own line enter it in the format:

IP Address Host
0.0.0.0 example.domain.com

Step 4: Save the changes to your host file by pressing SHIFT + Z twice in vi.

As soon as you save this file the changes you made will take effect. To check the changes, you can ping the host you entered to see if it returns the correct address or just go to that host in a browser and see if your development environment opens instead of the production.

If you are new to Mac OS X, you may need to know how to edit your PATH. The good news is that this is an easy task on Mac OS X.

The recommended way is by editing your .bash_profile file. This file is read and the commands in it executed by Bash every time you log in to the system. The best part is that this file is specific to your user so you won’t affect other users on the same system by changing it.

Step 1: Open up a Terminal window (this is in your Applications/Utilites folder by default)

Step 2: Enter the follow command:

open ~/.bash_profile

This will open the .bash_profile file in Text Edit (the default text editor included on your system). The file allows you to customize the environment your user runs in.

Step 3: Add the following line to the end of the file adding whatever additional directory you want in your path:

export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH"

That example would add ~/.rbenv to the PATH. The $PATH part is important as it appends the existing PATH to preserve it in the new value.

Step 4: Save the .bash_profile file and Quit (Command + Q) Text Edit.

Step 5: Force the .bash_profile to execute. This loads the values immediately without having to reboot. In your Terminal window, run the following command.

source ~/.bash_profile

That’s it! Now you know how to edit the PATH on your Mac OS X computer system. You can confirm the new path by opening a new Terminal windows and running:

echo $PATH

You should now see the values you want in your PATH.

[Updated 2/10/2012] The instructions now use the .bash_profile method of editing your PATH. This is preferred as it keeps the changes specific to your user. I also updated the instructions to use Text Edit instead of vim so it is easier for a beginner.

One of the huge advantages of getting an Apple computer with the Intel processor is the ability to run a native boot version of Windows. Lets face it, we still live in a Windows world no matter how much faster, safer, and more productive the Mac OS X operating system is.

But as Apple continues it’s rise in popularity, you can feel safe in making the switch to an Apple computer now because there really is nothing it can’t do. With the addition of Apple Boot Camp software, which now comes with the Leopard version of Mac OS X, you can easily setup Windows XP or even Vista as a dual boot system.

There are a few tips that I can give you to make this process go smoothly because even though it is easy to get everything setup, there are a couple of things in the setup guide that I didn’t bother to read first that caused problems.

The first step is to run the Boot Camp Assistant application. You can find this by going to Applications -> Utilities. Run through the steps in this wizard and create the partition for your Windows installation. When you finish, it will ask you to put your Windows installation disk in.  You will need to make sure you have a full installation disk, not an upgrade disk.  Also, if you are installing Windows XP then it has to be a SP2 install disk.

Put in the installation disk and restart. This will allow it to boot to the installation disk and start the Windows installation process. Go through the installation wizard to the partition selection page. At this page, select the Windows partition you created with the Boot Camp Assistant. On the format options, make sure you select the Full format FAT32 option. You cannot use the Quick format option or it will cause problems with finishing the installation.

After the Windows installation has finished copying the installation files to the hard drive and restarts, make sure you hold down the Option button so it gives you the option to boot into the Windows partition. If you do not do this, you’ll never complete the installation because it will just keep booting to the Mac OS partition.

Once you’ve completed the Windows installation, you’ll need to run the setup.exe program from the Leopard installation disk to let it finish setting up and installing the drivers to make all of the hardware function correctly in windows.

One last optional step to improve the access to your Windows OS is to buy and install Parallel’s Desktop 3.0 for Mac. This will give you the ability to run both operating systems at the same time as well as mirror and share files between the two operating system.